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Les Voiles de Saint Tropez: alinghi.com talks with Brad Butterworth

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Oct 20, 2008
The Alinghi tactician is racing on Numbers in St Tropez with the full Alinghi crew. They lead the ranking after three races with three wins

Hello Brad, can you explain where we are and why?
We are in St. Tropez, we are doing an IRC regatta here with 41 boats in our class. We are sailing on Numbers, Dan Meyer’s Vrolijk 66 with the full Alinghi crew and we are having a good time

Are you enjoing this place and the races?
We are enjoing the racing very much here, we are enjoing the atmosphere here in St. Tropez seeing the other sailors and the other boats. It’s something quite special, really.

Is this regatta part of the training program for the Alinghi crew?
It’s part of the training program it’s one of the many regattas we done this year with this boat just try to keep our big boat skills at a good level to try to sail the boat as hard as we possibly can and of course, try to win as many races as we can which is good for that boat.

Can you explain what are the main differences to call tactics as you do here in a fleet race with 41 boats and in match racing regatta?

Fleet race is more, you know, you’re after speed, being able sail the boat on the lifts and shifts all the time you don’t really identify just one other boat. There are little match races within each race, but mainly we’re just trying to sail in a good lane, because we’re sailing with big boats -bigger than us – and so we like to just get some clear air and sail as fast as we can. Of course, we’re also sailing against boats that are smaller than us, so we have to give them a lot of time on corrected handicap.

That’s the big difference – we don’t get involved with other boats, we stay in clear air and we sail as fast as we can.

What can you say to the Alinghi fans for the future?

I’d like to say someting for the future for sure. I mean I’m very optimistic we can get a solution with the legal cases pending - definitly with Oracle I think it will be great if Larry and his team back sailing in the Cup again and hopfully Team New Zealand drops its lawsuit. I’m very optimistic, but I’m always optimistic.

Source: BYM News